Stephen Harper's '24 Seven' videos require up to four staffers to produce

OTTAWA – As many as four public servants from the Privy Council Office are engaged in the publishing of weekly video clips that celebrate Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s accomplishments.

The Prime Minister’s Office can’t say how much it costs to produce the promotional “24 Seven” videos every week. Viewership numbers for the videos are small, the PMO’s written response to a question from the opposition shows.

Viewership peaked for the clips in their first edition, covering Jan. 2 to Jan. 8, when 10,172 people watched the English version on YouTube and another 14,342 watched through a proprietary software used on the website.

The number who watched the French version: 21 viewers, less than a city bus-full.

The numbers have been in sharp decline since, with only 100 watching the Jan. 23-29 English version on YouTube and 19 in French.

One of the clips billed as a “24 Seven Exclusive: Reflections from the Middle East” drew only 3,016 for the English YouTube and 265 in French.

The PMO says that, on average, three staff in the Privy Council Office work on publishing the videos on the PM.gc.ca. website as part of their “regular web publishing duties.” These may include an EX-01 Director, Special Projects; a GT-04, Senior Multimedia Monitoring Analyst; an IS-04, Project Coordinator; and an IS-02, Analyst.

“The Privy Council Office is responsible for publishing to the Prime Minister’s website and this is conducted by public servants as part of their regular duties,” the written statement says.

This apparently does not include the number of taxpayer-paid staff in the PMO who may record and edit the videos.

The government drew criticism last week when new Finance Minister Joe Oliver refused to stop to answer reporters’ questions after he was sworn-in at Rideau Hall, but did appear in one of the 24 Seven videos, talking about his new job.